Looks like it's $199 to get the TCU upgraded to AT&T's 3G network. I've been doing the space heater thing instead. It is somewhat more of a pain in the sense that now I have to shovel snow around two cords instead of one. It also doesn't quite aim right at the windshield to defrost it.

If there's one thing I think Nissan did wrong on the Leaf it's the preheating/cooling system.

The idea is great. Heat or cool your car using the charging power before you unplug it and go somewhere. That way you can have a comfy ride and not have to use the heater or A/C using battery power, or at least not as much.

But Nissan only made two ways of using this technique, and neither are conventional. Normally you'd either get in the car and start it, then lock the doors and go back into your house, or use a remote start. But the Leaf doesn't use either. One way in the Leaf is to set a climate control timer. But that's only good for once per day, and at a specific moment, unless you like going out to the car every odd time you want to go somewhere and spending ten minutes in sub-zero weather to program the timer so that it will heat up on charger power. The other method is by means of the NissanConnect (formerly CarWings) website or app which then uses AT&T 2G towers to communicate with the Nissan Leaf and turn on the climate control. This used to work on my Leaf if I had cellphone service, until January 1st of this year when AT&T eliminated it's 2G service.

If I get into the Leaf and try to start it with the car plugged in so that I can turn on the heater, it doesn't work. The heater won't turn on. It just blows cold air. Last Saturday it was -28°F/-33°C when I got up. I ended up just unplugging the car and then turning it on and the defroster. I waisted 10% of my battery just to get the windshield defrosted.

I wonder if there's a mod to get around this.

Suggestions???

This is a major flaw, to be sure. I have not figured a work around, either.